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The original Napoleonic Code, or Code Napoléon (originally called the Code civil des francais, or civil code of the French), was the French civil code, established at the behest of Napoléon. It entered into force on March 21, 1804. The Napoleonic code was the first legal code to be established in a country with a civil legal system. It was based on Roman law, and followed Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis in dividing civil law into: - personal status;
- property;
- acquisition of property.
The Napoleonic Code properly said dealt only with civil law issues; other codes were also published dealing with criminal law and commercial law.
Even though the Napoleonic Code was not the first, it was the most influential one. (For a list of early codes, see here). It was adopted in many countries that were occupied by French forces during the Napoleonic Wars and thus formed the basis of the private law systems also of Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and their former colonies.
Other codes with some influence in their own right were the Swiss, German and United Kingdom, Ireland, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries have, to different degrees, been influenced by the Napoleonic Code. The Code has thus been the most permanent legacy of Napoleon.
The intention behind the Napoleonic Code was to reform the French legal system in accordance with the principles of the French Revolution. Before the Code, France did not have a single set of laws; laws depended on local customs, and often on exemptions and special charters granted by the kings or other feudal lords. During the Revolution, the vestiges of feudalism were abolished, and the many different legal systems used in different parts of France were replaced by a single legal code.
Developing out of the various coutumes of France, notably the Coutume de Paris, this recodification process was commenced by Justinian in the Byzantine Empire with the establishment of codified Roman law. The development of the Code was a fundamental change in the nature of the civil law legal system. The development of these codes made the law much clearer: they were different in each country, and thus destroyed the superficial legal unity of Continental Europe which had existed in the Middle Ages.
The term "Napoleonic code" is also used to refer to legal codes of other jurisdictions that are derived from the French Code Napoleon, especially the civil code of Quebec.
Louisiana's civil code features some aspects of the Napoleonic Code, but is based more on Roman and Spanish civil traditions.
See also: Lettre de cachet
Also see
External link - English translation of the Code (http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/c_code.html)
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